212. Immediately after their profession of living faith in Christ’s paschal mystery, the elect come forward and receive that mystery as expressed in the washing with water; thus once the elect have professed faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, invoked by the celebrant, the divine persons act so that those they have chosen receive divine adoption and become members of the people of God.

213. Therefore in the celebration of baptism the washing with water should take on its full importance as the sign of that mystical sharing in Christ’s death and resurrection through which those who believe in his name die to sin and rise to eternal life. Either immersion or the pouring of water should be chosen for the rite, whichever will serve in individual cases and in the various traditions and circumstances to ensure the clear understanding that this washing is not a mere purification rite but the sacrament of being joined to Christ.

Interesting, that reference to “individual cases.” It’s not clear if means individual baptisms, or an individual Easter Vigil celebration. At any rate, a dribbling of water would be a difficult connection to make to a ritual joining to God.

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Todd lives in the Pacific Northwest, serving a Catholic parish as a lay minister.